


Interval Engineering

by EarlineNathaly



Series: Shidge for VLDRarePairWeek [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-02-19
Packaged: 2018-09-25 12:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9821156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EarlineNathaly/pseuds/EarlineNathaly
Summary: For the #VLDRarePairWeekDay 7: AU DayPidge is a genius engineer assigned to build a prosthesis for a young soldier that recently lost his arm in the same war his father and brother were held prisoners. The fact that it would be wise to keep their relationship professional is the last thing that’s refraining them. He’s the lieutenant commander of her father. She’s his best friend’s little sister. He's eleven years her senior.Or, how I like to call this fanfic: The infernal 11 years age-gap that only would happen in a freaking AU.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I don't know if this is the one that will finally get me to receive hate, but once again, this is my sort-of-response to the hate the ship receive for the non-canon ages someone decided the characters were and it got the haters to use it as an excuse to, well, hate. 
> 
> Let me know what you think of this. I'd really appreciate it if I could get to hear your thoughts.

The first time she saw him, he was just a photo. He was a file she’d been given as her first patient. Shirogane Takashi, male, 25 years old. She read about him and learned his story. She could only internally shudder with what she read. He was missing an arm after being held prisoner for a year in the hands of the enemy, just like her father and brother had.

 

He was in his father crew as the lieutenant commander of a mission gone wrong and she was pretty certain his arm wasn’t the only part of him the war had taken away.

 

The first time she really saw him, he was real and he needed her help. She was assigned to build a prosthesis for him that was going to be the first of its kind, one that could even go connected to his nerve system, allowing him to feel touch. He was going to be the test project, as if he hadn’t been damaged enough, so she made a promise to herself that this project would be successful, that it would return to him at least a little of what he had lost in the less painful way.

 

She knew first hand how PSTD affected people because of her father and brother, and after she had finished reading his file, she couldn’t help herself and went straight to hack the classified ones of the militia, and that was how she found out that Shirogane Takashi had been crucial for his family survival. Without him, they wouldn’t have made it out alive and she was resolute that she would do anything in her power for this project to be a success.

 

“Hello,” she said. “My name is Katie and I’ll be your prosthetist. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

* * *

 

The first time he saw her, it was on a photograph her father kept with him at all times. The picture was from some years back but the whole family was smiling at the camera and the fist thing he had noticed was that she was practically identical to Matt. Her father was the proudest of them all because of the accomplishments of his genius child at such a young age and even her brother was all praises and funny experiences for his little sister. He knew then that they were a very close, charming family.

 

The first time he saw her in person, her features were sharper and was about a head taller, but she still could barely reach his shoulder. She wore her hair in a side ponytail and her hands in her lab coat’s pockets. She was still identical to Matt, but clearly a girl. Her caramel eyes reflected the bitter years she had suddenly grown up thanks to the disappearance of her family.

 

And yet, her smile was the kindest he had seen since he could remember when she welcomed him to her lab.

 

“Hello, Katie,” he responded to her greeting. “I’m Shiro. The pleasure’s mine.”

 

* * *

  

They saw each other at least three times a week, sometimes more when he felt an especially scorching pain where metal met skin. He really didn’t want to bother her, but she was always encouraging him to call her at the minimal of discomforts, so when he thought the pain was stopping to be bearable, he called.

 

They became friends fairly quickly. They had things in common. They both loved space, they had both gone to the same Academy and they both had spent more time than necessary with her father and brother, accumulating enough funny stories to share. Her father had always said his crew was like family, and she was starting to see why.

 

Nevertheless, she began to feel that something wasn’t how it was supposed to be when she started to anticipate their appointments with a giddy heartbeat. His voice was deep and sweet and she loved to work on his arm. He started to think there should be something terrible wrong with him when he started to notice the texture of her hands and the warmness of her touch every time she did a check up.

 

“Can you squeeze my hand?” she would ask, and his metal palm would gobble down her small appendance when he did what she asked. “A little tighter?” And it was like a slow dance, playing with his strength and his movements. He learned that there were a lot of ways to hold a hand, and a lot of ways to let it go. His favorites were the ones that let go slowly, allowing him to savor her a little longer.

 

“Can you let go slowly? One finger at a time,” she instructed with her eyes on the screen of the computer connected to his prosthesis.

 

Yes, yes he could.

  

* * *

 

Shiro loved to see her work. Her eyes sparkled every time she got her hands on his arm and she was adorable when she lost herself on the explanations he only half got about the operation of his arm.

 

She ran her fingers from his shoulder to his wrist and asked if he could feel it.

 

“Yes,” he said.

 

“And now?” she moved her fingers back up, this time applying less pressure.

 

“Yes, I can still feel it,” he confirmed.

 

She guided her sole fingertips to his wrist again leisurely, with a butterfly touch and if he had had flesh still, he would have probably gotten goosebumps.

 

“And that?” she asked again, and he didn’t know if her voice was also softer.

 

“Yes,” he said hurriedly, not trusting his voice.

 

She waltzed her fingertips on the inside of his wrist in a gentle circle and lifted her eyes to his. He hadn’t realized she had stopped typing with her other hand.

 

“And this? Can you feel this?” her voice was almost too quiet.

 

“Y-yes,” he stuttered, and suddenly, his palm contracted involuntarily when her fingers took their time to stop. They both startled.

 

She cleared her throat, and proceeded to make guesses about what could have had gone wrong. He didn’t dare to think of the possibility that nothing was wrong. His nerve system had just reacted accordingly to his feelings.

 

* * *

 

He was beginning to get used to her fingers running through his arm when she didn’t find any more malfunctions on his prosthesis. It didn’t take long for they to make their last appointment.

 

“Your arm is ready,” she had said, happy for him and for her too. Still, a little sad for concluding their meetings. “You shouldn’t have any problems with it anymore.”

 

“Thank you, Katie,” he said, sincere, but she shook her head.

 

“No, thank _you_. I know that it was because of you that my family made it back alive, so really it was the less I could do,” she explained. “I never thanked you properly for that, so… thank you.”

 

For a moment, he was speechless, even more so when she stepped forward and hugged him. He was still sitting on the table she made him sit so she could work, so her chin could rest on his shoulder comfortably when she embraced him. After a few seconds, he reacted and hugged her back, assuring her that she didn’t have anything to thank him for.

 

He could smell the shampoo in her hair and felt the tiny size of her body pressed gently against his. She sighed and her breath tingled his neck. When she withdrew to look at him, he was momentarily lost in her amber gaze that he was taken completely by surprise the instant she stole a kiss.

 

Her soft lips touched his almost too shyly and he could sense her uncertainty, fearing she had crossed a line. All of it, her softness, her shyness and yet her boldness, made her taste so sweet, just like the forbidden fruit. And that thought was what made him snap back to reality.

 

* * *

 

 

Katie could hear her heart drumming aggressively in her ears the moment she decided she was going to risk it; before she even looked at him after she hugged him.

 

His lips were thin and smooth, his breath warm and addictive. He pressed his mouth against hers for about three glorious seconds before he drew back like she had electrocuted him.

 

“K-Katie,” he breathed as if he had just come out from under water. “We can’t… we can’t… _we can’t_.”

 

She knew he was going to say that. She swallowed hard, trying to not be too disappointed.

 

“I’m sorry, I just…” she mumbled, looking at his chest. “I thought that you…” she felt her throat start to close and gulped again, doing her best to keep her voice from breaking.

 

“I’m sorry too,” he apologized as well, his hands leaving her back to squeeze her shoulders. “I shouldn’t have let my emotions get the best of me.”

 

She looked at him then, surprised. He felt dirty before the hope reflected in her eyes.

 

“I like you too, but…” he said, his conscience running its claws against the insides of his chest for confessing his dark secret.

 

She nodded uneasily, averting her eyes again.

 

“I’m fourteen,” she whispered, her voice tight. He felt terrible.

 

“I’m sorry, Katie,” he repeated.

 

“It’s alright,” she said as she let him hug her again, even if it was just to see if her heart could remain in one piece if his arms clasped her strong enough.

 

He kissed her eyelid before leaving, and she feared he felt the wetness in its corner.

 

He was still looking miserable when he was about to cross the door, so she smiled at him reassuringly, and in an attempt to ease his guiltiness, she tried to joke it off.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll grow up” she smiled as brightly as she could and even threw him a wink, leaning on her desk.

 

To her surprise, he blushed a deep red, rushed his goodbyes and was out before she could process what just had happened.

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t the last time they saw each other. He was her brother’s best friend and her father thought of him as a son. Sometimes he would go to have dinner at her house, and her heartbreak didn’t last long when she discovered he was easily flustered.

 

She became very skillful at being passively flirty, and if her parents noticed, they never said a word about it. They even laughed at his face when she dared to steal another kiss that time he didn’t realized he was standing under the mistletoe at the Christmas party before her eighteenth birthday, and after that birthday, he gave up.

 

He had learned with the years that she worked very hard to achieve whatever she set her mind on, and she had decided that she wanted him. It was just a matter of time for him to fall on her net and never be able to set free. He discovered he didn’t want, either. He also had to admit that despite he loved her wit; she probably shouldn’t be so aggressive when people tried to pry on their age-gap.

 

“Don’t worry,” she’d said with a wolfish smile, “I don’t take advantage of him… too much.”

 

He wished he could learn to control his blush. Mostly, because she wasn’t lying and his red cheeks undoubtedly gave that small detail away.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is it. I hoped you liked it, as always :)


End file.
